Furmint

Furmint – an indigenous grape variety with pedigree

On the western shore of Lake Neusiedl, in Rust, this old indigenous grape variety finds conditions under which it can fully express its unique character.

Rebblatt am Stamm eines Rebstocks im Gegenlicht

Rebranke am Furmint-Rebstock in Nahaufnahme

Liegende Flasche Furmint Aus dem Quarz vom Weingut Wenzel

Our story

For over 40 years, Furmint has been our most important grape variety. The fact that it continues to shape our winery so strongly today also has to do with our family history: Michael’s grandfather and father were the first to bring vine cuttings back from Tokaj to Rust together, thereby restoring a dedicated Furmint vineyard to production. Over many years, Michael has further refined the style that distinguishes our wines today. From this experience, an elegant and precise wine style has emerged. Our wines show structure, freshness, and vibrant tension. Pannonian light, lean soils, and the proximity to the lake lend them clarity, fine minerality, depth, and great aging potential. Ecological work in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the cellar result in distinctive wines with a cool fruit profile and plenty of character.

Autochthonous

Furmint is one of the great indigenous grape varieties of the Pannonian region. Other grape varieties can also express their origin precisely. But with an indigenous variety, this connection is often even more deeply rooted – in the landscape, the climate, and the history of a place. In Rust on Lake Neusiedl, Furmint encounters warmth, light, and geological diversity. This creates wines with clarity, depth, and a strong connection to their origin. This is exactly what has fascinated us for many years. For us, Furmint is therefore a particularly harmonious way of bringing origin into the glass.

Burgenland

Burgenland shapes our Furmint in a very special way. Warm days, cool nights, and the balancing influence of Lake Neusiedl combine ripeness with freshness. The light of the Pannonian region and the vineyard sites on the western shore of the lake give the wines their unique tension: taut, refined, and deep all at once. It is precisely this combination that makes Furmint so compelling for us here.

Lese zwischen den Rebstöcken im Furmint-Weingarten

What does Furmint taste like?

Wenzel's Furmint displays a cool fruit profile, vibrant freshness, clear structure, and fine minerality. Depending on the vineyard site and vinification, it can appear taut, saline, profound, and highly complex.

Does Furmint have aging potential?

Yes. Furmint possesses a natural structure and freshness that give it remarkable aging potential. Over the years, it often gains depth, complexity, and expression.

Which soils characterize our Furmint wines?

Our Furmint wines grow on soils characterized by limestone, quartz, gneiss, mica schist, and other Pannonian formations. This geological diversity gives the wines structure, texture, and a characteristic mineral tension.

How are our Furmint wines aged?

Our Furmint wines ferment spontaneously and are matured without cultured yeasts, enzymes, fining or clarifying agents. Aging takes place on the lees, in steel or wood, accompanied primarily by time and attention. Since 2012, we have stopped filtering individual wines, and since 2014, all of our wines have been unfiltered; sulfur is used only minimally, if at all.

Discover more

Frequently asked questions

Furmint – answered in brief.

Reife goldgelbe Furmint-Trauben am Rebstock

Soil & Terroir

Limestone, quartz, slate – and nature by the lake.

Wilde Kräuter und Gräser im Gegenlicht am Rand der Weingärten

How we work

A lot of manual work, minimal intervention.

Hände halten eine Traube Pinot Noir mit der Rebschere bei der Lese